2 Bombs Planted on Train in Sri Lanka Kill 54

AP

Published: July 25, 1996

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, July 24—
Two bombs ripped through separate cars of a commuter train today, killing at least 54 people and wounding more than 350. The police blamed Tamil separatist rebels.

It was the deadliest terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan capital since January, when a suicide bomber devastated Colombo's commercial district, killing 88 people.

The latest bombings occurred as 2,000 Sri Lankan Army reinforcements reached a major military base in the northeast, where Government forces had suffered one of their worst defeats in 13 years of civil war.

Of the 1,200 soldiers who had been at the base when rebels seized it last week, the reinforcements found only 11 survivors hiding in a well, military officials said.

Attacks on both military and civilian targets in one week suggested that the Tamil rebels are not backing down, despite several months of Government victories that had given some Sri Lankans hope that the war was ending.

The two bombs today exploded simultaneously in separate cars of a train that was pulling out of a station in Dehiwala, a middle-class suburb just south of Colombo on the Indian Ocean coast. The police said the bombs were concealed in parcels.

Rescue workers making their way through the blasted-out cars found bodies lying among shoes, briefcases, handbags and other debris. Hundreds of people were taken to hospitals.

Nimal Perera, a fisherman who lives in a nearby hut, said many of the injured were taken away in cars and buses before ambulances could arrive. The seaside station also suffered heavy damage, and dozens of people standing on the platform were wounded. The train was heading for Alutgama, 30 miles away, when the bombs exploded at 6:15 P.M.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the police blamed the Tamils, who this week marked the 13th anniversary of their campaign for an independent homeland.

More than 43,000 people have been killed in the civil war since 1983. The Tamils accuse the Sinhalese majority of discrimination in education and jobs.

In the embattled north, 2,000 army reinforcements reached the Mullaittivu base, supported by warplanes, helicopters and naval gunships. The military said "a large number" of decomposing bodies were found among the ruined buildings at the base. On Sunday, the Tamils said they cremated 486 bodies and handed 55 to the International Red Cross. The 11 soldiers found alive had been hiding in the well for days.

Nineteen soldiers reportedly fled earlier. Others may still be hiding in the jungle around the isolated coastal base, 170 miles north of Colombo.

The rebels continued firing long-range mortars at the troops, but offered only light resistance. Most had withdrawn into the jungle after stripping the base of its weapons and destroying some of its buildings.

In December, the army expelled the guerrillas from Jaffna city, their stronghold for the last five years. In May, the Government said the Tigers were driven out of the entire Jaffna peninsula.